This invention relates to drag reducing apparatus for use on land vehicles and more particularly to upstanding wind deflectors and vortex stabilizers for mounting on land vehicles.
It has long been known that land vehicles, especially single chassis trucks and tractor-trailer trucks, while moving through a fluid consume a great deal of energy in overcoming wind resistance. Although various systems for attempting to deal with this problem have long been tried, a few years ago substantial progress was made in the production of an upstanding baffle for drag reduction. This baffle or wind deflector was invented by Walter Selden Saunders and is disclosed in his U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,241,876; 3,309,131; and 3,348,873. Mr. Saunders also discovered that energy can be conserved by employing vortex stabilizers and this advance in the art is disclosed and claimed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,697,120.
Although the wind deflector disclosed and claimed in Saunders' Patents has been able to obtain substantial reduction in fuel consumption, improvements have been sought to increase the amount of fuel savings obtained. Until now, any improved drag reducing systems have not effectively increased fuel savings, have been expensive to purchase, and have required a completely new investment in mounting hardware.